There is a technique for attaching, to an apparatus (for example, a communicating apparatus), a backplane (mother board) to which a plurality of daughter boards can be connected in advance and inserting or removing a required number of daughter boards in a direction orthogonal to a surface of the backplane as necessary. In this technique, the worker inserts a daughter board by handling its edge away from the backplane. This connects the connector mounted on a portion of the daughter board close to a backplane to the connector mounted on the backplane.
In the backplane optical connector, since the worker cannot grasp the connectors mounted on the daughter board and the backplane, accurate positioning between the connectors is impossible. In addition, since the backplane is installed during investment of equipment and a daughter board is inserted as necessary, contamination may adhere to an exposed portion of the backplane before the daughter board is inserted. However, since the backplane is located at the back of the apparatus as seen from the worker, it is difficult to clean the backplane after installation.
The backplane optical connector proposed in patent literature 1 is known as a backplane optical connector used in such conditions. FIGS. 8A and 8B schematically show the structure of the backplane optical connector proposed in patent literature 1. First, it is assumed that the direction orthogonal to a surface of the daughter board is the X direction, the direction parallel to a surface of the daughter board and a surface of the backplane is the Y direction, and the direction orthogonal to a surface of the backplane is the Z direction. A backplane optical connector 900 proposed in patent literature 1 includes a first connector 910 mounted on a backplane, a second connector 920 mounted on a daughter board, a cover 930 and a shutter 940 that are mounted on the backplane to cover the first connector 910, and a rotary shaft 950 about which the shutter 940 is pivoted. FIG. 8A shows a state in which the second connector 920 is approaching the first connector 910 during insertion of the daughter board. FIG. 8B shows a state in which a first optical input-output part 9101 of the first connector 910 and a second optical input-output part 9201 of the second connector 920 make contact and are optically connected with each other. The backplane optical connector 900 includes the cover 930 and the shutter 940 to protect the first optical input-output part 9101 of the first connector 910 from contamination. If the daughter board is inserted, the second connector 920 presses and opens the shutter 940 and the second optical input-output part 9201 makes contact with the first optical input-output part 9101. Although not shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the first connector 910 is mounted on the mother board using a floating structure so as to have degrees of freedom in the X direction and the Y direction. That is, the first connector 910 can move to some extent in the X direction and the Y direction. When the daughter board is inserted, the positions in the X direction and the Y direction of the first connector 910 and the second connector 920 are adjusted by the guide.
The technique proposed in patent literature 2 is also known as an optical connector (although not for a backplane) with a shutter for protection from contamination. FIGS. 9A to 9C show the structure and the motion of the shutter of the optical connector proposed in patent literature 2. Although both the first connector and the second connector have shutters in the technique proposed in patent literature 2, only the shutter of the first connector is shown in FIGS. 9A to 9C to simply describe the parts related to the present invention. An optical connector 905 proposed in patent literature 2 includes a first connector 915 having a first optical input-output part 9151, a second connector 925 having a second optical input-output part 9251, a shutter open-close assisting means 935 on a first connector side, a shutter 945, a rotary shaft 955 about which the shutter 945 is pivoted, and a pressing pieces 926 on a second connector side.
FIG. 9A shows a state in which a second connector 925 is approaching the first connector 915. FIG. 9B shows a state in which the pressing pieces 926 are inserted inside the shutter open-close assisting means 935 to determine the positions of the first connector 915 and the second connector 925 and the shutter 945 is opened because the pressing pieces 926 presses part P of the shutter 945. FIG. 9C shows a state in which the first optical input-output part 9151 of the first connector 915 and the second optical input-output part 9251 of the second connector 925 make contact and are optically connected with each other. The shutter (not shown) of the second connector 925 is pressed by the pivoted shutter 945 and opened in the same manner.